Wireles Networking is a practical guide to planning and building low-cost telecommunications infrastructure. See the editorial for more information.... |
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Powers of TenIn physics, math, and engineering, we often express numbers by powers of ten. We will meet these terms again, e.g. in Giga-Hertz (GHz), Centi-meters (cm), Micro-seconds (s), and so on.
Knowing the speed of light, we can calculate the wavelength for a given frequency. Let us take the example of the frequency of 802.11b wireless networking, which is f = 2.4 GHz = 2,400,000,000 cycles / second wavelength lambda (λ) = c / f = 1.25*10-1 m = 12.5 cm Frequency and wavelength determine most of an electromagnetic wave's behaviour, from antennas that we build to objects that are in the way of the networks we intend to run. They are responsible for many of the differences between different standards we might be choosing. Therefore, an understanding of the basic ideas of frequency and wavelength helps a lot in practical wireless work.
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